"HO Scale Heavy Gear" Topic

I'm just wondering, if the HO scale Heavy Gear models were put back into production as special grade figures, would anyone buy them?

It would depend on price. Since these were rather large miniatures that require a lot of metal, they would likely be very expensive today. Not sure if current metal costs would not price them out of reach. Might be better in resin if cast well.

Jeff

Depends on how much they cost compared to their size and what material they get made in.

I would prefer metal and would be willing to pay a bit more than if they were resin.

Curious question…I would say that should have stayed with the original 1:87/HO scale to begin with. I think this move caused the brand untold damage for the long and short run.

Changing scale once your line is established is about as close to miniatures suicide that I can think of.

Shame too, as I like the majority of their designs a great deal. They put the blocky cubist battle tech and other related types to shame (yes I know the scale is an off comparison but I liked the gears as replacements for the just plain ugly battle tech mechs)

I would actually like to see the HO scale minis done specifically for the Arena rules set. I think that the current scale is fine for Blitz.

DP9 lost a lot of players when they ditched the HO stuff or 1/144. Given how expensive the current gears are, I would assume that a new run of HO ones would carry a hefty price tag. Count me out.

The larger scale would certainly lend to be more customizable, which would appeal to the Arena players.

These were much more multi-piece models and a lot easier to swap parts and cut-and-reposition limbs.

Also more space to work with for special custom paint jobs and decals for the Arena appearance too.

I really liked those. To be appealing, they would have to have optional weapons. I'd rather buy one Black Mamba and decide how to build it rather than have to look for the exact variant I want.

Well, given that I paid around $130 USD total, recently, for 2 HO Scale Mambas and a HO Mammoth Heavy Strider?

Yes, I suppose I would, for select models I had use for, at least (mine're for use as wardroids w/28mm figs).

- Monk

I dunno… Personally, I wish they'd gone to 1/100 scale, but at the time the scale made sense. There's not a whole lot of HO scale scifi out there, after all, so you were stuck for terrain and such.

I don't think DP9 would EVER re-release the 1/87 in metal, considering how hard they're trying to get away from metal across the board.

Curious question…I would say that should have stayed with the original 1:87/HO scale to begin with. I think this move caused the brand untold damage for the long and short run.

It would make the CEF and Port Arthur Korps unplayable, though; those hovertanks are pricey enough in 1:144, and you'd need a table 12 feet across to accommodate the movement and weapon ranges.

I've still got some of the old stuff and since it is 20mm, it isn't any good to me regardless. If they were to do any other scale, I would suggest going full on plastic injection molded kits in 28mm scale for skirmish or arena duelling. The whole start up in 1/87 HO scale was a mistake and while they were cool, they were still expensive. Now they would be cost-prohibitive due to metal prices. Resin would be alright, but still, why would you go back to something that isn't really going to match the bulk of the games out there already where you can do cross-over games?

When they went to the new scale, I was also disappointed. I lobbied for 15mm scale, not 10mm scale. Of course, I am biased, but in 15mm, at least you could use them with many of the 15mm games out there, without having to come up with much more than a few "what if" ideas to make them part of the arsenals of a WWWII game, or use with your 15mm modern figures for another "what if" WWWIII style game.

By the way Monk, thanks for the purchase.

Asked DP9 about them.

They destroyed the molds. :(

Steps to take that say volumes about the direction of management;

1. Once your miniatures line gets some momentum and success, scrap the line and change the scale making the previously purchased miniatures out of place with upcoming miniatures.

2. Destroy the larger scale molds for the first successful line just in case you might change your mind and want to provide these miniatures in the future.

3. Is a step three necessary at this point?

*****

I preferred not knowing they destroyed them…sad.

:(

Dream Pod 9 is still in business? I thought they died when they decided they where a video production house……

Yeah. I sent the an email mentioning the growth of 15mm Sci-fi, the compatibility of the older Heavy Gear stuff and suggested it might be profitable to re-release the old stuff as a specialist line…

But they scrapped the molds.

I have a ton of the old HO Gears just sitting in a box. Not really sure what to do with them

Reverse engineer the molds with them Grumpy.

DP9 wouldn't like you doing that however. But I suppose if you did that and made some major cosmetic changes to them you'd have your own line of scaled gears. No better call them something else.

And DP9 is still around as Heavy Gear Blitz followed by Arena seems to be working for them.

I was one of those fans of the old scale, it took some convincing for the new scale to win me back. But like with 15mm scale I've seen the smaller miniatures means more units on the table idea has won me over.

I purchased 6 or 8 NIB Old School Mammoths over the last 6 years as well as a few others that fit into my army lists. They look pretty amazing on a 15mm table.

I never got motivated to put a lot of effort into their assembly and subsequent painting because the casting is absolutely horrible and they are truly unwieldy.

Granted, I believe they are all lead and the size is a detriment because every flaw is very noticeable.

And they weigh a ton. I can't imagine how you would pin these with anything less than 1/8" brass rod.

They do have an excellent defense bonus as I am sure you could easily kill an intruder with a gentle overhand toss of the finished mini.

"I have a ton of the old HO Gears just sitting in a box. Not really sure what to do with them"

You mean the box that you were supposed to send to me ages ago? That box?

Well now that you have found it again, just tape it up and get it in the mail.

I think I have waited long enough don't you?

Whew, I am glad you found them again I had about lost all hope.

:)

I have a lot of both scales.

You can get away with using the HO scale vehicles and gears in 15mm. You can probably get away with using the 1/144th scale gears as powered armor. Vehicles are too small at 1/144th (not even sure the they scale off well with their own gears at that scale).

Blitz is a great little game (seemed to derive from their "Lightning Strike" game). I liked the original Silhoutte version as well (since it tied directly to the RPG system).

One of the most extensively developed backgrounds I have ever seen. There were a ton of background books developed when the RPG was at its height.

In the end, they would likely have been better off today if they had just went with the 15mm scale originally but I don't think anyone imagined back then the revival we would be seeing in 15mm. Still a good game though.

I think what messed up things for DP9 was they 1.) Kept splitting off new lines like Jovian Chronicles, Tribe 8 Gear Krieg, Core Command. They spread themselves thin. Next they kept re-releasing the same Heavy Gear stuff OVER AND OVER AGAIN instead of moving it forward. 2nd edition-> third edition, Sillohouette generic system edition w/ HG world books -> D20 edition…

It was damned silly. Then they were doing video games and a TV show and then they were going to do CGI effects for movies and then….it all kind of collapsed and got restructured as Blitz and Arena and now they are (along with Battletech) trying to build it all up again in a post Warhammer/Magic the Gathering/Mage Knight world that seemingly doesn't really need older style giant robot games much anymore.

R.Talsorian is selling Cyberpunk again but Mekton is dead as anything but a nostalgia product and the Votoms and Bubble Gum Crisis Fuzion games just disappeared. Rifts is back in a niche again. CAV is kind of stuck in a no man's land where Reaper sells the old stuff online. Infinity and Warmachine are probably the closest successful things around I guess. Is DUST doing okay? I have no ide AT-43 collapsed with Confrontation. Still I'm seeing Battletech and DP9 stuff in hobby/comic store again along with some Incursion stuff. So maybe that's something.

I found a few from about 15 years ago.
Still in blisters too.

Looks like I best go to ebay…

The current generation of gears works well in 15mm.

The vehicles are hit or miss. I model for 15mm at 1/100th and a lot of their vehicles hit that fairly well…

I'd pay for a smaller size yet again – or at least one I could afford!

Since I'd have to buy at least 2 armies, it is cost prohibitive – they fall into the GW "worth considerably more than their weight in gold" category per mini…

Yes, eville they do, it is one of the reasons I regularly mock them as I do GW…

The smart thing for them to do would be to computer sculpt and offer different scales in a print by order store.

:)

I thought DP9 costs would go down when they started to switch to plastic but they kept the high prices I'm sure the HO scale would be cost prohibitive to most people. I do like there stuff where trying to simplify there rules so we can have mass combat games.
John

@Jhodson: It's resin, so there are some challenges there. Also, a lot of their early resin pieces (hovertanks and striders) are pretty much on par with other small-production-run resin models and conversion parts of a similar size and parts count.

Resin isn't cheap, and the published reason DP9 is switching to resin as much as possible is to reduce lead use.

I wish that they would switch faster. Drilling out their metal minis to add magnets is a pain. That metal is HARD.

I tend to use a dremel to drill out joints for DP9's miniatures. Sometimes I get carried away and hole it clean through and just connect both arms by a wire through the torso. If they went plastic gears I'd be drilling and pinning by hand.

Yeah…. Considering their current figures cost nearly $10 USD a mech and are made of weak metal. Hell no.

"Nearly" $10 USD a mech?

It would be OK if it was just an arena game with a few, but the combined-arms thing is what makes it cool. Their fleet scale mechs (in very limited poses) aren't cheap either – about the size of a 15mm soldier, they cost $20 USD for 10 ($1 each) or more than double the usual cost for a 15mm metal…

I badly want to like and support DP9 but the prices deter me.